Pad Thai
Pad Thai
The classic default noodle dish is Pad Thai which consists of stir fried thin, flat noodles with vegetables, bean sprouts, optional meat or tofu, crushed peanuts, and egg. If you are lucky you get a wedge of lime to squeeze and sometimes sliced cucumbers are included on the side to take the burn out of your mouth. Carbs, protein, vegetables, and vitamin C all in one yummy package! You can find Pad Thai in every restaurant and on carts in every street.
The problem is don’t expect it to be consistent between places like Americanized Chinese food dishes. The Pad Thai may look and taste completely different at two neighboring restaurants and sometimes the ingredients will even vary within the same restaurant based upon what ingredients were cheap or available at the market that day!
Pad Thai is pretty much the default noodle dish of choice for people that don’t know anything about Thai food yet – and for good reason, its delicious and cheap!
Noodle burn-out
If you are noodled-out, there are loads of stir fried vegetable dishes served with a ball of sticky rice as well as many world famous curries and soups. A typical meal in a restaurant that caters to travelers (not in a resort!) will cost you around US $1.00 – $1.50. Street food and food in restaurants off the tourist paths can be had for even cheaper! Sweet basil is used in many of the dishes along with peanuts, carrots, eggs, and the famous chili spice (prik pohn) which you can find in small ceramic pots on tables in case you want to add extra spice.
Seasonings
Paet is the word for spicy in Thai. If you love spicy food and have a cast iron gullet, ask for your food “Thai paet” which means as spicy as a Thai person can handle. Otherwise, you will probably end up getting “farang paet” which basically translates to white person spicy. If you order your food Thai spicy, be prepared to get giggles from the waitress and in some instances, for the old woman cooking the food to stick her head out of the kitchen to watch your response as you eat it!
If you want to play it safe, you will almost always find jars or a small cart of seasonings on the table including chili spice, soy sauce, sugar, and the very fragrant fish oil.
Don’t even bother
Sad but true – bread, cheese, and milk are hard to find in Thailand, taste completely different, and do not compare to Western standards…..its not worth the effort for something that will make you want to purge!
